OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) — A lottery club from southeastern Michigan has claimed the largest prize in Michigan Lottery history, a $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot.
The four-member Wolverine FLL Club’s winning ticket matched all of the numbers drawn Jan. 22 – 04-26-42-50-60 – and the Mega Ball 24. The winning ticket was bought at a Kroger store in Novi.
“A club member saw a sign that the jackpot was up to $1 billion and remembered that they hadn’t bought their tickets yet, so they pulled into the Kroger,” said the club’s representative and attorney, Kurt D. Panouses, in a press release. “When you play of course you dream of winning, but the reality of it has been incredible."
“This kind of money will impact the families of our club members for generations to come. We plan to stay humble and pay it forward through charitable giving in southeast Michigan.”
The Wolverine FLL Club chose to receive their prize as a one-time lump sum payment of about $776 million instead of annuity payments for the full amount. After required income tax withholdings of 24% federal tax (about $186 million) and 4.25% state tax (about $33 million), the club received about $557 million.
For selling the winning ticket, Kroger received a $50,000 bonus commission. Shortly after the prize was won, the store announced it would donate the $50,000 to the Food Bank Council of Michigan.
The $1.05 billion jackpot is the largest prize ever won in Michigan, and third-largest prize won in the United States. The national and world record for a lottery jackpot is $1.586 billion.
